Nightmares
by bookwormgirlLH
Summary: Ever since Kryten became human, he's had nightmares. But it turns out that sharing a bed with Lister is all he needs to get a peaceful night's sleep. Slashy ficlet.


For as long as Kryten could remember, he and Lister had shared a bed.

Well, that was probably an exaggeration, because Kryten knew that it had only started since he had become human - something so complicated he didn't go into it unless forced - but that was years ago, and he couldn't remember his life as a mechanoid very clearly any more. He'd originally thought that his memory loss was a problem, but Lister and Rimmer had explained that humans couldn't store and file their memories, and, therefore, he had lost a lot of things previously stored in his memory files. He used to find this an inconvenience, but now he'd got used to being human, it didn't bother him any more.

Anyway, they, over the course of a few weeks, developed the action of sharing a bed, and it had stuck. It was during his first week as a human when Kryten, every night, was plagued with awful nightmares: nightmares that caused him to cry out and thrash about in his sleep, so violently he often tumbled out of bed or hit his head on the wall; nightmares filled with fragments of images he never quite understood but he knew were something terrifying; nightmares that he knew he was a part of but that wouldn't let him wake up; nightmares that he only escaped from when Lister slapped him across the face and he was left panting, his heart drumming in his chest, and tears streaming down his cheeks.

In fact, he was only able to calm down once Lister clamoured into bed beside him and gave him a hug. Once he'd calmed down, Kryten managed to fall asleep, and, for the first time all week, he slept soundly and without nightmares. It was a relief for both him and Lister, as they both finally got a good night sleep.

After that point, Lister got into bed with Kryten every night, and the nightmares stopped, which was why now, four years later, he was lying beside Lister in their bed on Starbug, watching Lister's chest rise and fall. But something was wrong. Kryten couldn't sleep, and he knew why.

It was because of Kochanski. After the day's strange encounter with their better, smarter selves from a parallel universe, they had been lumbered with another version of the woman Lister used to go out with, and he was distracted by her. It wasn't like he and Lister were a couple or anything - well, in the sense that they didn't sleep together, or kiss, or anything like that - but Kryten still couldn't help but worry abut how Kochanski might turn Lister away from him, and then Lister might want to share her bed instead, and then his nightmares would restart, and -

"Kryters?" Lister rolled over and looked at Kryten. "You're breathing really fast. Are you okay?"

Kryten realised that he was hyperventilating, and struggled to slow his breathing down. "I think so." He gasped.

Lister didn't look convinced. "Are you worrying about something?" When Kryten didn't reply, Lister eased himself into a sitting position, emulated by Kryten, and added, "Is it Kochanski? Look, man, I said it earlier and I'll say it again, I'm not going to abandon you for her. She's my mum, for smegs sake!" He chuckled slightly, but stopped when Kryten didn't join in.

Lister turned his head to look Kryten in the eye, and realised that he had fallen asleep, his body beginning to slump back down under the blankets. He snuggled down beside Kryten, yawned loudly, and tried to nod off again, wondering how Kryten could fuss so much, and how quickly he could calm down after fussing.

"I love you, man," He yawned, closing his eyes.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, Lister swore that he heard Kryten reply.

"I love you too..."

* * *

"Dave?"

Lister's eyes opened, and he turned his head in the direction of whatever had just woken him up. It was Kochanski, dressed in her smart, red PVC outfit, and she looked more than a little confused.

"Oh, hi, Kris," he yawned, smiling at her. He hoped that not mentioning his situation would stop Kochanski questioning him, as he really didn't want to explain why he was lying in bed beside Kryten.

"Er..." Kochanski looked more closely, and she must have noticed the fact that Kryten's hand was loosely gripping Lister's, their fingers interlocked, because her eyes widened slightly. "Why are you and Kryten in the same bed?" she asked.

Lister sighed. "It's not what you think it is, Kris," he said wearily, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Why, what do you think I think it is?" Kochanski said, managing to confuse Lister in his sleep addled state. It took him a few seconds to understand what she had said before he could even begin to think of an answer.

Luckily for Lister, at that moment, Kryten stirred in his sleep, and his eyes opened slightly. Upon noticing Kochanski in his bedroom, his eyes snapped open, and he sat up with such speed that he almost tipped Lister out of the bed.

"Hello, Miss Kochanski," Kryten said, sounding confused and rather panicked.

Lister smiled a little as he heard Kryten speak, as it just sounded so...Kryteney. He knew that wasn't a word, but he was half asleep, and he was never that good at grammar anyway. He particularly noticed that, as usual, Kryten had called Kochanski 'Miss Kochanski', a habit he'd had since she joined their crew. When challenged, Kryten had said it was because he didn't like her enough to call her Kris, as she wanted, but he found it too rude to call her by just her surname, especially as she was an officer. Lister had just laughed, and let Kryten carry on with it, too amused by his anecdote to comment.

"Hello, Kryten," Kochanski replied a little stiffly, as if she disliked the title Kryten used when talking to her.

"May I ask why you are in my bedroom?" Kryten asked, as polite as ever.

"Yeah, why are you here, Kris?" Lister added, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bunk.

"You overslept, Kryten," Kochanski explained briskly. "And, as the Cat was all set to just walk out of the cockpit without switching to autopilot first, I thought I better get you to start your shift before we crashed into something. Although, that still happens even with you piloting, but there you go." She added under her breath.

Scowling, Kryten made to argue back, but Lister gave him such a look that he stopped himself.

"And I was just a little distracted when I saw you in here too, Dave." Kochanski continued. "Because I didn't know that you two were...well..." she trailed off, embarrassed.

Lister realised what she was implying, and blurted, "No, we're not sleeping together, Kris. Well, we technically are, but you know what I mean."

"Do I?" Kochanski asked.

His ears reddening, Kryten added, "He means that we share a bed to sleep, Miss Kochanski, but we don't have sexua-"

"Yes, I get the idea, Kryten!" Kochanski snapped, not wanting to have this sort of conversation this early in the morning, if at all. But her curiousity got the better of her. "So why do you share a bed?"

Lister was ready to politely explain to Kochanski that it was private, but, to his surprise, Kryten began to tell her the truth.

"I get nightmares." Kryten said, very matter-of-factly. "They used to happen every night, and Lister would always have to wake me up to stop me screaming the ship down. One night, I was crying so much that the only way he managed to calm me down was to get into bed with me. And I could sleep at last! So now we always share a bed, and everyone gets a good night sleep. Now," Kryten looked down into his lap, his face flushing the same shade of red as his ears. "if you'll excuse me, I'm needed in the medical bay." Kryten babbled the last sentence, and, scrabbling to his feet, and ran across the room and headed for the cockpit. But Kochanski caught hold of his arm, forcing him to stay.

She gave him a sweet smile. "I really appreciate you telling me that, Kryten. I know we don't get on very well, but I think what you said was very brave, and I'm sorry for embarrassing you." She reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, and wandered back out of the room.

Stunned, Kryten scrubbed his cheek dry, and turned to face Lister. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know, Krytes," Lister said, coming over to stand beside Kryten. "But she's right."

"In what way?"

Lister smiled. "You were smegging brave to tell someone you hardly know about those horrible nightmares, man. I respect you for that."

"Thank you, Lister," Kryten grinned bashfully.

"Now, go and take over from the Cat, man - this ship's not gonna steer itself," He said.

Kryten gave him a sideways look. "What about autopilot?"

Grinning, Lister slapped Kryten on the back. "Just go, Mr Smart Arse."

Obediently, Kryten wandered out of the room, only to come running back in a few seconds later.

"I'm not wearing any trousers!" He cried, grabbing his trousers out of the wardrobe and pulling them on over his boxer shorts.

"I know," Lister gave him an evil grin and left Kryten alone to get dressed, shaking his head in disbelief and wondering how on Earth Kryten managed to make him laugh so much all the time, when at others he was so scared he made Lister want to cry. But, he decided, that's what friends were for.


End file.
